Advocacy Includes Defending Intellectual Freedom

Finally, as a trustee advocate, you will be a defender of intellectual freedom defined by the American Library Association as the “the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction.. Once the board has established a collection development policy and library resources are purchased which respond to community needs, the trustee as advocate must recognize an inviolable responsibility to permit people access to those materials. One of the most frequent questions asked of library trustee advocates (usually in front of an audience) is whether a particular book or other item should be in the library's collection. The response must be unequivocal in defense of the community's intellectual freedom. See Chapter 17 for more information on intellectual freedom.